Monday, February 08, 2010

Penderyn Aur CymruMadeira FinishSingle Malt Welsh Whisky46% abv£35$70 USDWriting very quickly as I am off to New Orleans in an hour. Congratulations, Saints!

This bit of Welsh gold was first released in 2004 and comes from Wales' only single malt distillery. Founded in 1998, Penderyn began distilling in 2000 and was recently visited by our friends at Whisky for Everyone. Follow that link for some great distillery facts and insight that will not be repeated here.

Instead, let's quickly look at the packaging. Somewhere between a bottle of Glenrothes and a bottle of Drakkar Noir, Penderyn comes in unique and striking package with gold lettering against a black backdrop with a window display that, through a clear glass bottle, proudly reveals the natural colour of the spirit. On the side of my bottle is a stamp that reads "released Mar 09", a useful piece of info, I think.

I think it is worth mentioning that the box emphasizes its country of origin, has plenty of Welsh language on it, and on the bottle itself reads, "this malt whisky is rare and precious, handcrafted and Madeira finished," bringing to the fore how little of this stuff exists, how it was made, in what barrels matured, rather than lofty tasting notes or lofty terms like authentic, traditional, or age-old.

Enough. Thanks to Luke for the sample and thanks to Karen and Mark at Whisky For Everyone for lifting the burden of explaining the unique distillation process at Penderyn. Again visit their post for more info. Now, let's drink.

Bright, light, refreshing spirit with pleasant youthful elements that drive the flavours, rather than oak extractive flavours like most whiskies the world over. Shows great potential as a bar whisky that could be consumed in volume... not that I condone that, but if you're the type of person to order a round of Jamesons, you might as well make 'em Penderyns.